Avatar

Now, I know that everyone in the free world has seen this Avatar:

Don't get me wrong - it was an amazing movie. Beautiful scenery, awesome special effects, etc. Kind of a Pocahontas-meet-Dances-With-Wolves-meet-Ferngully, only more blue.

The Avatar that I'm especially looking forward to is this one:

Which is a live-action movie version of this:

Which is one of the best non-anime cartoons I have *ever* seen (and I watch a lot of cartoons)!

So even though The Last Airbender (I guess they couldn't call it by the full title the show has, which is Avatar: The Last Airbender) is a live-action movie directed by M. Night Shamalan (or however you spell it), and I know it can't compare to the sheer awesomeness of the cartoon, I still can't wait to see it!

*movie squee*!

 

The most wonderful time of the spring...

It's Anime North day today :D

A few hiccups with this year's guest list, but I'm still going and looking forward to it! Pictures will inevitably follow.

I've been a bad blogger, so here's a quick catch up on what's going on in my life, hobby-wise.

Knitting:
Gave up on the baby sweater and am now knitting an orange and blue panda for baby Simon (who I think was just born - stay tuned for official confirmation)

Also, I got the Taiyo to finish the sweater I've been trying to finish for over a year now. Yay!

Gloves are 100% finished, and I have started on the matching beret, only to put it aside to finish the panda.

Movies:
GO SEE STAR TREK! It was *awesome* even if you never followed the original series. If you know the bare minimum (i.e. who Kirk is and who Spok is) you should be fine. Plus, the guy who plays Kirk is pretty damned hot.

see?

Next on the movie agenda: The X-Men Origins Wolverine movie. I'm really only looking forward to Ryan Renolds, and I heard his roll is very small, so I'm preparing myself for disappointment.

In Other News...
I have a 6 day vacation coming up in June, and since I think I'll be spending the majority of those days by myself, I wanted to buy a small, cheap laptop for word processing so I can work on one of my novels while I'm up there. Tuesday's mission: go to Best Buy and check out the laptops.

But for today, I'm off to ANIME NORTH! :D

Seven Pounds

Since I was snowed in at the mall yesterday (darn), Corinna and I decided to see a movie once we had done the majority of our shopping.

(Honestly, people thought I was nuts for driving to Mississauga in a snow storm, but it was the best Christmas shopping day ever. There was barely anyone in the stores, no lines or fights, and I can think of much worse places to be trapped than at Square One. So the drive there and back was a bit harrowing. We all need a little excitement in our lives!)

*ahem* Anyway, we went and saw the new Will Smith movie "Seven Pounds"


Neither of us had any idea what this movie was about, but since Will Smith is so hot such a good actor (and there was nothing else playing) we decided to check it out.

It was... dramatic. Kinda boring at times. Will Smith was good (as he always is) but I found myself wondering what the plot was at times, and whether we had gone on some huge random tangent for a good chunk of the film. Rosario Dawson was very good (and I usually don't like her in stuff... unless I have her confused with someone else. She was the chick on Lost, right?), and I liked the big Great Dane named Duke. He looked like a cow :)

I would recommend renting this one... or wait until the library buys it and get it for free. The end wasn't bad but it was very abrupt, and by the time the explained why this guy was the way he was, the audience had already figured it out from the vague flash backs.

So a resounding "meh" for Seven Pounds. If you must see a movie before Christmas, go see Bolt. It was SO CUTE!!

*tap tap* Is this thing on?

Well, lots has happened since the last time I blogged. Unfortunately, not a lot is interesting... or blogable.

I got my Christmas shopping done... only to tell my family about it and discover that they had already bought some of the stuff I did. So with only a few short days before Christmas (and all my free time booked up), I have to get back to the mall.

I had a really fun Friday evening with some friends, eating sushi and going to see "Bolt". The movie was a lot better than I thought it would be. Very very funny and cute, and engaging. I loved the fanboy hamster!


I've been doing a lot of knitting on my shrug ... but I haven't taken any photos. Nor have I taken the photos from my Ottawa adventure off my camera yet. I swear it's on my to-do list.

Anyway, my family tree is decorated, we celebrated my dad's birthday, and today my sister is giving her phD (PhD? PHd?) thesis defense. Then we're going out for dinner. Good luck Amanda!

See? Lots going on, not terribly interesting. I am looking forward to new years, though.

Partay at the ROM! Woo!

Twilight

I went and saw the Twilight movie last night. After hearing some horrible reviews, I didn't think it was that bad. Certainly, I prefer the book and the glossed over parts and skipped part, but all in all it was good.

A few things bugged me, though.

1. Edward (can you believe I can't find a decent picture??)
Really, not my vision of Edward. I know in the book he comes off as creepy and stalkerish, but by reading it from Bella's point of view, it was kind of sweet. In the movie, it was just creepy and stalkerish. Made worse by the face that the actor who played Edward *looked* SUPER CREEPY for the entire film. Honestly, I was waiting for Bella to get all weirded out, especially with the random mood swings from sullen "we shouldn't be together" to angry "I am a monster!" to jumpy "we're dating! whee!" and back again.

2. Special Effects

The production company must have got a good deal on spinning cameras because I was feeling the motion sickness at certain points. Really, lots of spinning. And pointless scenes of Edward and Bella lying around and leaping through trees. Okay. We get it. Edward can scale huge trees. We don't need to watch it for 5 minutes. They could have spent more time with the fleeing-the-evil-vampires part and less time with spinning cameras and jumping up trees.
(And really, what's Edward thinking? Take the clutzy girl up the tallest tree in the world?)


Things I thought were done well:

1. The Cullens

Edward aside (okay and maybe Esme too), I really liked the casting for the rest of the Cullens. Jasper was little bug-eyed the entire film (he looked like he had recently been electrocuted), but Carlisle and Emmett and Alice were awesome!

2. Jacob Black (and other minor cast members)


Such a cutie! In the first two books, I'm totally on Team Jacob.
Charlie and Billy were done very well too. I felt so bad for Charlie the whole movie. Bella was broody and kind of annoying, but Charlie did a good job of being the awkards what-the-hell-do-I-do-with-this-kid type of Dad.

3. The Bad Vamps


James was scary! Laurent was cool! Victoria was, well, crazy :) Very very well done. I wish they had been in more of the movie...


In conclusion: If you liked the book as a good read and not much more, you'll probably like the movie. If you loved the book bordering on obsession, you probably won't.

Dark Knight

So I finally got to go see the new Batman movie


Heath Ledger as the Joker was just *creepy*, but they did an amazing job. I found the film to be quite long (those movie theatre seats can be pretty uncomfortable after a while) but the movie did a good job of holding my attention.

Here are a few points I had about the movie:

- The hoarse voice that Christian Bale used as Batman made me wonder if the Dark Knight was getting over a really bad cold or something. I was half expecting him to start hacking up a lung mid-speech.

- Maggie Gyllenhal (I probably really messed up on that spelling) was MUCH better than Katie Holmes ... which I'm sure everyone agrees.

- I love Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman!!

There were a few other things that bothered me, but they would be spoilers, so in case someone hasn't seen it, I won't write anything down. You'll know it when you watch it.

And...

This weekend I went to Wonderland again! I love roller coasters. So much fun! I sat at the very very front of Behemoth again (this time, my heart didn't stop for quite as long). Good times. I'd go again in August, but all my free time is pretty much spoken for, so if anyone wants to go in September, let me know ;)

"The Happening"

Sent to my by a friend, and therefore I am compelled to share:

A movie review of "The Happening", by Christopher Orr

"This film is so bad that I feel compelled to make a spoiler-laden list of its most laughably terrible parts rather than review it."

Well worth the read!

Indiana Jones and the Disappointing Plot

I'm starting out by saying that I didn't dislike the new Indiana Jones movie - in fact, I found the whole thing quite enjoyable. And it's been quite a few years since I've seen the original trilogy, and I know that Indie tends to go after mythical "historical" objects, but the whole crystal skull thing went a few giant leaps too far, in my opinion.

(I don't want to say too much in case I spoil the ending for anyone who wants to see it. And I suggest you do go see it. If not for the plot, then at least for Cate Blanchett and cutie-pie Shia LaBoeuf)

The rest of this post will be written in white, so if you want to see it, you'll have to highlight the text. That way I won't be spoiling anything...

Okay, so I imagine a production meeting between Steven Spielberg (SS) and George Lucas (GL) went something like this:

GL: I don't get it. Why didn't anyone like the Star Wars prequels? They were *so much* better than the originals. I have money now, for one.
SS: I miss doing ET. Why aren't we remaking ET? That movie was awesome.
GL: The fans must have been missing something... something crucial...
SS: I mean, everyone loves aliens, right? Especially aliens that somehow benefit mankind. Who doesn't want to be bettered by aliens?
GL: I got it! Harrison Ford! That's why no one liked Star Wars. No Han Solo!
SS: Han Solo? Is that way? You don't think it had anything to do with Jar Jar, or the horrible writing, or...
GL: NO! They just missed Han. We should totally bring Harrison Ford back for a movie. Like another Indiana Jones movie or something.
SS: Isn't he old now?
GL: Not if we drive a dumptruck full of money to his house. He'd sign on for sure!
SS: But the people who watch the movie aren't dumb. They'll know Indie is *old*
GL: We'll set it in the 1950s... and just so people don't forget it, we'll stick every single 1950s cultural reference we can possibly think of in the movie every 5 seconds, so if the audience even starts to wonder why Indie is old now, something will jump out and scream IT'S THE 1950s! HE'S AGED LIKE A NORMAL PERSON!
SS: Okay...
GL: And since he was in Star Wars, we'll throw in some aliens.
SS: Like ET?
GL: ... sure. Beneficial aliens. I mean, why wouldn't Indie be finding aliens in THE 1950s?
SS: Not very historical... or archaeological. I mean, sure the Holy Grail and the Arc of the Covenant and whatever he was looking for in the second movie probably didn't actually exist, but are people going to believe that South American culture is based off of aliens with crystal heads?
GL: They'll believe anything we tell them, as long as we play the theme music A LOT and have long action scene.
SS: We might as well have Indie looking for Atlantis.
GL: All in good time Steve. All in good time.

I am Ironman

Yesterday was the premiere of the movie "Ironman"... and I was able to twist my friends' rubber arms and convince them to go :)

It. Was. AWESOME.

I know pretty much nothing about Ironman from the comics, but this movie had a coherent plot, lots of fun explosions, humor (lots of great funny parts not spoiled by the ads), and most importantly GOOD ACTING.

Robert Downey Jr, for all his substance abuse, is a fantastic actor. Everything I've seen him in, I've enjoyed. Like Johnny Depp. He's good at every roll he plays.

Anyway, I was so thrilled by a good Marvel comic movie that I decided to take a look at other Marvel movies and see how they compared to Ironman:

List of Marvel Comics made into movies
(what did we do before wikipedia?)

Blade (1998) - I saw this and remember thinking it was okay. 'Course, I was a teenager at the time.

X-Men (2000) - What happened in this one again? I enjoyed the first X-Men movie. It was the sequels that ruined it for me.

Blade II (2002) - Didn't see it. Didn't think enough of the first one to bother.

Spider-Man (2002) - I have a deep love for Spider-Man, in all his incarnations, which sometimes borders on obsession. My friends can vouch for this. So, I'm biased when I say that this was (at the time) the best Marvel movie I had ever seen. *LOVE* Spider-Man!

Daredevil (2003) - In spite of Ben Affleck being cute (but he's no Spider-Man), this movie did nothing for me... except promote Evanescence, which is now one of my favourite bands.

X2 (2003) - I loved Nightcrawler. Other than that, meh.

Hulk (2003) - I think Marvel is pretending this never existed, and I don't blame them. I do find it hard to believe they didn't learn from their mistakes, and another Hulk movie is in the works.

The Punisher (2004) - Didn't see it... no wait, I think I did. That's how memorable it was.

Spider-Man II (2004) - It's only my deep devotion to you, Spider-Man, that makes me continue to watch your increasingly bad movies. Doc Ock was amazing. That subway scene nearly made me snort pop out of my nose.

Blade Trinity (2004) - I *almost* saw this because Ryan Renolds is in it, but in the end, even that wasn't enough to convince me to see Wesley Snipes as a rogue vampire... for the third time.

Elektra (2005) - Huh? Didn't she die? Why is she back? No, really. This movie was so bad, it would have been better to leave her dead.

Fantastic Four (2005) - Wasn't there a scene with Jessica Alba in either her underoos or nothing, standing on a bridge? I'm pretty sure this whole movie was made *just* for that scene.

X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) - This movie was so bad, it made me sputter with outrage while I was watching it. What have you done to my beloved (but not quite as beloved as Spider-Man) X-Men??

Ghost Rider (2007) - Okay, I find Nicholas Cage to be really drippy, but this movie wasn't that bad... especially compared to the previous 7 Marvel releases.

Spider-Man 3 (2007) - Yeah, not even my profound love of Spider-Man could make me see the good parts of this film. Sandman was a good bad guy... I like Topher Grace... bad ass Peter Parker looked like he joined Good Charlotte. It was terrible. I was sad for days.

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007) - I haven't seen this one. I like the Silver Surfer's story, but I somehow doubt this movie will do it justice, since every other movie seemed to be so terrible. Maybe I was still hurting from the deep betrayal I felt over Spider-Man 3.

Ironman (2008) - HALLELUJAH! MY FAITH IN MARVEL IS RESTORED!

at least until...

*sigh*

RIP: Heath Ledger

I heard on the radio this morning that Heath Ledger was found dead last night.

I'm not the hugest fan of his, but I did like watching his movies ever since I first saw him in the short lived TV show "Roar" back in high school.

And who can forget him singing in "10 Things I Hate About You"?

So, I'm sad that he's gone. His last movie, I suppose, will be the new Batman movie, where he played The Joker.

Pass the pies...

I just came back from seeing "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" (I keep wanting to say the demon barber of Seville, but I think that's an opera not a movie/musical) ;)

While the movie was very good, I don't think I'll be eating any meat pies for a while.

Tim Burton is seriously disturbed.

November 5th on the 6th

Remember, remember the Fifth of November,
The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,
I know of no reason
Why Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.

Sorry. Couldn't resist.
And yes, I'm a day late, but I was a bit preoccupied yesterday with the fate of my kitten :)

Wiki?

My favourite Queen...

What are you doing reading this blog, when you could be watching Elizabeth: The Golden Age?

This movie is just as gorgeous to watch as the first one was, and Cate Blanchett is stunning as Elizabeth I. A few historical innacuracies (what historical film doesn't have them?) but overall a magnificent movie.


Incidentally, the debate over whether or not Mary Stuart was actually in on the plot to kill Elizabeth is still raging. After doing some of my own research (for a university paper), I believe she was a naive and unwitting pawn in the whole ordeal. She genuinely believed that her cousin Elizabeth would save her and put her back on the Scottish throne... but you can form your own opinions.

Go see the movie!

P.S. The photos came from here and here

Stardust

Neil Gaiman, on asking people to go see Stardust



(If you're in two minds about Stardust, about whether or not to see it or even when to see it, please go and see it this weekend. Friday night if you can. Take friends. If necessary, take them at gunpoint. They will love the movie so much they will forgive you afterwards. And if they don't forgive you, you can dispose of them quietly -- you're the one with the gun, after all -- and you will have a wonderful time for the rest of your life with the new friends you made at the Stardust screening.)


So... who wants to see Stardust with me? It's got goats!

OotP!

I was going to write what I thought of the new Harry Potter movie, but after reading MadJenny's review, all I can say is that I agree with her and that you should read that one :)

Things I would add, though...

• 12 Grimmaud place (excuse the spelling. I'm too lazy to look up how it's supposed to be spelled) was really well done. That place was creepy, and I would hate to have to spend a night there!

• Most of the Hogwarts students were using Muggle backpacks, which irked me quite a bit. If, like the Weasleys, most of these kids came from full wizarding families, I don't think they'd have those.

• Fred and George were fantastic. I loved their experiments on students, and although they didn't make a swamp when leaving, they did go out with a bang :)

• I loved Luna, but she didn't seem, well, English to me. I couldn't catch any accent. I don't know if this is because she's an American actress, or if she was speaking in an unnaturally high pitched voice which made it difficult for her accent to come through, but when she spoke, it seemed out of place from the rest of the characters.

Yes, I nitpick. I know.

• Dumbledore's great escape was awesome.

• Finally, I adored the end. I won't spoil it, but Voldemort vs. Dumbledore and Harry was a great way to end the movie

That's all I can think of right now. Go see it. And, MadJenny, if you want to see it again in IMAX, I'll come with you! :)

kitten and movie

I saw "Transformers" last night. It was much better than I thought it would be! I was a little concerned it would only be giant robots blowing stuff up (which a lot of it was) but there was a semblance of plot. The main human guy (I think his name was Sam in the movie) was *annoying* but his car, Bumblebee was awesome.

Bumblebee was so cute! Like a robotic-car puppy! :)

Anyway, I promised another kitten video, so here it is. This is Hamlet, trying to disembowel a stuffed lion. Please ignore my inane commentary in the video. Or better yet, turn the sound off. I really have to learn not to make a sound while recording.

How did I not hear about this???

I just saw a trailer for a new anime called "Paprika", which apparently started on June 15th!

As far as I can tell, it's only playing in one cinema in Toronto: the Scotiabank Theatre on Richmond St W.

See the trailer and read what this awesome looking anime is about here.

Okay, who wants to go with me? Maybe later this week? Next week? Soon?

:D

Pom Poko

Before the long weekend, I saw another Studio Ghibli film (working at a library *rocks*) called Pom Poko.

First off, this movie is *strange*. I realize that most of the Ghibli films are weird, but this one was bizarre. It was about a bunch of raccoons whose forest was being destroyed for a housing complex. The neat thing about the raccoons was that they can change their shape, so they try to sabotage the construction to regain their home.

Raccoons and foxes in Japanese myth are magical, and able to transform, so that premise wasn't too far-fetched. The things the raccoons changed into were pretty strange, and how the males used their, ahem, "sacks" to crush humans and blind truckdrivers was pretty funny.

I found the ending sad, but the movie overall was entertaining.

Pom Poko poster


The male raccoons using their "sacks" to fly


The raccoons learned about the humans by watching TV - and quickly got addicted!


(I'll put these pics on my own server when I get home... promise!)

Studio Ghibli (one of my favourite vices)

I watched "Whispers from the Heart" last night, one of the few Ghibli movies I had yet to see (along with "Porco Rosso", "Pom Poko", and "My Neighbours the Yamadas").

First of all, this movie tied so closely with my 2nd favourite Ghibli movie, "The Cat Returns", that I enjoyed it just for that. I adore The Baron (even more when he has Cary Elwes' voice!) and it was cute seeing Moota prowling around Tokyo.

One thing that really *really* bothered me was the song. The main character Shizuku (spelling may vary) wants to be a writer (which struck a major chord with me) so she's writing lyrics to a song she and her friends will sing at graduation from junior high. I'm not sure what the original Japanese song was, but Disney in all it's patriotic glory, had them singing "Country Roads". It's a horrible song to begin with, but it also felt completely wrong. It just didn't fit with the scenes of Tokyo. That bugged me the entire movie.

I loved seeing Shizuku's apartment and the wonderful views of Tokyo, although I realize it's just an animation and Tokyo probably doesn't look exactly like that. Still, it's as close to Japan as I can get on my budget and I can pretend that everyone there speaks English :)

The movie was adorable and, upon proper consideration, might be bumped up to my 3rd favourite Ghibli movie... or maybe 4th. I do love "Spirited Away"!

In case you're curious, here's my ranking:
1. Howl's Moving Castle
2. The Cat Returns
3. Spirited Away /Whispers of the Heart (tied for now)
4. Princess Mononoke
5. My Neighbor Totoro
6. Nausicaa of the Valley of the Winds
7. Castle in the Sky
8. Grave of the Fireflies

... did I miss any?